Pre-med student talks viral life-saving moment, her time at Drew, and her future
June 2026 – Drew University senior pre-med student Simone Kelly C’27 went into New York City to celebrate the first New York Knicks NBA Championship in 53 years. She had no idea by the end of the day she’d be among those being cheered by thousands.
In a moment that has gone viral—garnering coverage in the New York Post, the Today Show, CBS, and ABC News—Kelly remained poised amid cheers and chaos to deliver Narcan to a man she identified as having overdosed.
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The parade hero
Kelly, a volunteer EMT in South Orange, saw a group of three men celebrating on the ledge of a subway tower. Two of the men came down to ground level while one stayed up. He appeared to be teetering on the edge.
Not wanting to insert herself, Kelly monitored from her parade perch atop a sanitation truck. After about 30 seconds of nobody addressing the increasingly-troubling situation, Kelly began to climb up toward the man. She reached the ledge as others started to notice the issue. She checked the diagnostic signs. She was shaking as the situation became more and more tense and serious.
“I realized, damn, I’m really going to need to do this in front of everyone,” said Kelly.
Someone tossed up a Narcan nasal spray and a bottle of water.
It was a pivotal moment where Kelly thought to herself, “I’ve done this countless times in the back of my ambulance, today is no different (even if there are thousands of eyes on me).”
Understanding her services were needed, Kelly soon entered autopilot mode. The Narcan did its job. The man regained consciousness.
Kelly noted that being able to deliver Narcan in an emergency was not a skill that requires her EMT-level training. People can take a training course or simply read the instructions on the packaging.
The EMT-specific skill that Kelly did bring to the situation was the next step after reviving the individual: staying in problem-solving mode and getting him down to ground level safely.
“Moving him down was the most difficult part,” said Kelly. “As an EMT, we aren’t always responding to a medical emergency, but we almost always are lifting and moving a patient. Everyone was so eager to get him down quickly that they started moving without thought. You can hear me in one video saying, ‘Stop, let’s think about this,’ because there was a six-foot gap we needed to charter.”
Only once the man was down safely could Kelly give a thankful look to the sky to reflect.
“I can’t believe this is done,” Kelly said to herself. “That was stressful, but ultimately it was a positive outcome. It’s just a wild feeling having everyone cheering and roaring both after and during.”
The Drew student
Kelly went to the parade by herself—a tone-setting act in itself.
“There’s an amount of confidence in just that action that I didn’t think I’d be able to have when I first came to Drew.”
Kelly transferred to Drew after struggling amid the anonymity of a much larger university in Ohio. She visited Drew at the urging of her dad, and chose to enroll. Despite feeling uncertain about the decision at first, it has turned out to be one that helped get Kelly to where she is today.
“I decided to stay because of the resources I get at Drew,” said Kelly, who is on a pre-med track as a neuroscience major and chemistry and psychology double minor.
“Drew is a very personal experience. My professors knew my name and would look me in the eye and be able to discern immediately if I knew the material. That was something I wasn’t getting before in a sea of 500 people in a lecture hall—I was a small fish in a very big ocean.”
Kelly pointed to her neuroscience and pre-med advisor Dr. Christina McKittrick for helping creatively navigate academic requirements, difficult schedules, and myriad questions.
“Not every students’ journey looks the same and she’s been very understanding of that,” said Kelly.
“I also have to shout out all of the Dean’s Office,” said Kelly. “At first, they must have seen me as a shell, unsure which way was up, unaware of the potential I had at this school. They’ve helped me so much, even knowing which days I have an exam and giving me an apple for energy. It’s the little things.”
Amid Drew’s encouraging, personal environment, Kelly grew the confidence to fully implant herself in the Drew community. Last year, she made her idea of a biomedical theme house come to fruition, creating one with the help of Drew’s Residence Life staff. The theme house was a hit, overfilling space in its first year due to popularity and being renewed for a second year this coming fall.
It was not the only community Kelly has found since coming to Drew. She was also pushed to volunteer in the South Orange EMT, further expanding her sense of belonging while adding to her resume. Her work with the EMT also came in handy after she dropped a class she didn’t know she needed to complete her pre-med track.
“I talked with Drew’s Career Center to find a solution and they found that my EMT experience qualified as an internship, fulfilling the credit requirement,” said Kelly.
“Drew has helped me find a way to make it all work and support my goals as a student.”
The front-line advocate
When news outlets interviewed Kelly after her parade heroics, she was adamant that the moment was not about her.
“This isn’t about Simone Kelly, EMT,” she said.
“There’s a larger picture here. There’s a problem with addiction and substance abuse and the way this country villainizes someone who uses drugs or needs help. I don’t think I should be patted on the back. This story should be about how the decision to help, nowadays, is seen as a heroic act, instead of an everyday occurrence.”
After Drew, Kelly plans to go to medical school to focus on emergency psychiatry to continue to stand on the front lines.
“I feel most comfortable around the communities that align with that message and I really want be at the forefront with people who are dealing with struggles like this—mental health struggles, addiction, overdoses, suicides. There’s a lot of work to be done in the field and that’s where I find my calling.”
Kelly also pointed to her complicated place as a woman in the field of emergency medicine.
“On the job, I’ve gotten a lot of comments, oversexualizing me or telling me that this is a man’s world and I have no place in it or reminding me that I am second to all the men,” said Kelly. “This moment for me is an opportunity to shout out any woman in a position of power whose skills are being doubted solely because of their identity. It is really frustrating having to deal with all of these comments and people who think it’s appropriate to talk about me a certain way or touch me a certain way, even in the back of the ambulance. It’s exhausting. So I shout out to all those who know what it’s like in any field.”
Even prior to the life-saving moment at the championship parade, Kelly had started a GoFundMe that sends donations to the OnPoint NYC, a harm reduction coalition in New York.
“If people could put their feelings aside and remember that nobody chooses to get stuck in the cycle of addiction and that Narcan saves lives, harm reduction saves lives, being an open ear saves lives, then we would all be in a much better place.”
Through her senior year at Drew and into the future, Kelly is running head-on into the problem to be a part of its solution.
